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Add a glowing sense of humor to the list of good traits possessed by Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields.
The rookie QB has been impressing coaches, players and media alike with his work ethic, attitude and demeanor and now, he’s winning people over with his hilarious moxie.
In his August 24 meeting with the media, Bears coach Matt Nagy recounted a fun story about a recent exchange between Fields and veteran tight end Jimmy Graham that began on the practice field and ended later on at meal time.
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Fields is Learning How to Adjust to the Pro Game
Nagy has given veteran Andy Dalton the bulk of the team’s practice reps with the starters and Fields has been working with the backups, but the rookie has shown enough flashes to merit more work with the first team. Thus, Fields has had a few more opportunities to work with the likes of Graham, Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney in recent weeks, and the 22-year-old quarterback seems to be developing a solid connection with his new teammates, at least on a personal level.
The following story courtesy of Nagy illustrates how Fields responds to his receivers when they want the ball thrown in their direction.
“You know, I can give you a little funny,” Nagy began.
One of the plays we ran yesterday: We had Jimmy on a linebacker and usually that’s a pretty good matchup with Jimmy out there one on one. I think all of us would maybe throw him the ball. And one high safety. And Justin was out there and he went the other way. He didn’t throw it to him. So in the middle of practice Jimmy came over to me and he’s like, he told me, he said: ‘Hey man, when I’m over there give me that ball. You know, you throw me the ball.’ So when we were in meetings yesterday, we were telling the quarterbacks: ‘Hey, listen guys, you’ve got a guy, tight end, he wants that ball. When you’ve got No. 57 on him, he wants that ball.’
Graham wanting the ball when he’s one-on-one against a linebacker is no surprise — but Fields’ response to Graham’s request was both slightly surprising and outright hilarious.
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Fields to Graham: You Gotta Get Open
Nagy continued the story, which spilled over into the team dinner that evening:
So we get to dinner last night and Jimmy and Justin are crossing paths and Justin walks by and tells Jimmy, he says something to the fact, ‘Hey man when you’re out there you’ve got to get open’ And Jimmy just looked at him, and was just like, ‘Did this little young buck just tell me to get open?’ And Justin just walked away and just had the biggest grin on his face as he said it. So like that kind of stuff you build that rapport. But Justin is doing that. And now when he gets with a guy like that Justin knows, OK, now I just learned I’m going to give him a chance. When he’s covered he’s uncovered. So those are the little stepping stones that you build rapport with those guys.
It wasn’t a huge moment, but as Nagy noted, Fields’ clap back was all part of the team-building process. Moments like that are going to help the young QB build a long-lasting, fun rapport with his new teammates while also putting his one-of-a-kind personality on display.
“Justin is locked in,” Nagy added. “This kid is very focused, he’s all in, he’s selfless, he’s just, he’s doing really, really well right now and we like where he’s at.”
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